Two young teams looking to gain experience and create an identity for themselves clashed in the first round of the Lady Indians' Holiday Classic.

Although the game was tied up with just 3:07 left to play, Lehighton pulled away for a 31-22 victory over Northern Lehigh.It was a very low scoring first half full of turnovers and missed opportunities, as Lehighton took a 7-5 lead into the locker room."Our game plan was to make them shoot from the outside, keep Tiff Thompson off the board, and to challenge them," said Northern Lehigh head coach Tony Thomas.Although Thompson was scoreless in the first quarter, she pulled down six rebounds. In the second quarter, she scored all three Indian points, as well as pulling down three more rebounds to help give Lehighton the early advantage.Indian head coach Eric Gidney was not satisfied with the play of the Indians in the first half.The Lehighton coach said, "Some of the open shots in the first half didn't fall. I think we settled for the first option instead of running through our sets."When you settle for the first shot you're quitting on your team because you aren't allowing for your offense to get in a rhythm and give everyone touches."The Indians clung to a three-point advantage after three periods of play.What could have been referred to as a "line change" in hockey, was a tactic used by Gidney later in the second half."At one point I subbed out the entire five girls on the floor," said Gidney. "I felt like we didn't have energy and I wanted to send a message to the team and they responded. The girls I put in the game were the spark we were looking for."Riley Durishin and Ali Rossino highlighted the new group of girls substituted in by the Lehighton coach.All eight of Rossino's points came in the second half. Durishin finished with seven points of her own, all of which were scored in the final period.The pair were a big part of the 9-0 run by the Indians to end the game."Our game is taking the ball to the hoop and getting to the line," Gidney said. "We weren't accustom to a team packing it in on us, so we settled for jump shots which was the case in the first half."In addition to the big games from Rossino and Durishin, Thompson had eight points and 11 rebounds for the Indians.Jess Olewine and Kelsey Follweiler had eight and six points respectively to lead Norther Lehigh."We're working very hard to get the scoring opportunities which we need to capitalize on," said Thomas. "We missed a ton of easy layups and free throws which makes a big difference. Our girls are learning and playing tough every game."Northern LehighOlewine 2-4-9-8, Bevans 2-1-1-5, Follweiler 2-1-3-6, Tarafas 1-0-2-3, Petre 0-0-0-0, Harlan 0-0-0-0, Thomas 0-0-0-0, Moran 0-0-0-0. Totals: 7-6-15-22.LehightonRossino 3-2-4-8, Smith 1-0-0-2, Thompson 3-2-3-8, Rehrig 1-1-2-3, Whiteman 1-0-0-2, Bollinger 0-1-2-1, Durishin 2-3-8-7, Scott 0-0-0-0, Fital 0-0-0-0, Blasiak 0-0-0-0. Totals: 11-9-19-31No. Lehigh 4 1 8 9 -22Lehighton 4 3 9 15 -31Three-Pointers: Northern Lehigh - Follweiler 1, Tarafas 1. Lehighton - none